day 275—four keychains

Somewhere along the way, I started noticing keychains. Keychains are necessary. Without them, you wind up with a bunch of large, oddly shaped, stabby change-like objects in your pockets. Or your keys slide to the bottom of your bag where you can’t get at them easily. Keychains help us make sense of which key opens this door from that one and they keep things neat and tidy.

As much as they are utilitarian objects, keychains are highly personal. We don’t give them too much thought, but at the same time, we won’t use just any old keychain. It can’t be too big or too ugly, and while they aren’t a huge part of your image, they still can’t be wildly different from what you normally wear or carry around with you. Think of the times you’ve been given someone’s set of keys for some reason. I bet there’s been one or two times you’ve felt embarrassed to have that thing dangling from your hand.

I don’t go out of my way to collect them, and I don’t think I’ve ever bought a single keychain, but when I come across an interesting, unused keychain, I don’t hesitate to ask if I can have it. Mostly, people are happy to part with them. They’re kind of like paper-clips that way.